The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	SAIL plans major expansion To pump in Rs 1.75 lakh cr by 2020 New Delhi, May 31 State-owned SAIL today said it would spend about Rs 1,75,000 crore to augment its annual production capacity to 60 million tonnes by 2020 from the current 14 million tonnes. “You can say that there will be total investment to the tune of Rs 1,75,000 crore, by 2020, including what is ongoing,” SAIL chairman SK Roongta, whose four-year term as the PSU chief comes to an end today, said. The country’s largest steel maker may raise debt to meet 60 per cent of its funding needs to take the capacity to 60 million tonnes by 2020, besides using cash reserves of Rs 22,000 crore. “It has to be both internal accruals and borrowings. When the projects are firmed up, then we will decide. Even if it is 40 per cent internal and 60 per cent borrowing, it is prudent,” Roongta added. Currently, the steel maker is in the process of expanding its capacity to 23 million tonnes by 2012 at a gross sum of Rs 70,000 crore. “That remains our target (to take the capacity to 60 million tonnes). It is our directional plan and target,” he added. Asked if the new leadership at SAIL would maintain the pace of the expansion projects, which has suffered delays at least twice in the recent past, he said, “I hope so. We have to not only defend our market share but also grow it.” Besides the ongoing expansion programme, the company is also looking to tie up with steel giants like Posco, ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel, in its pursuit for the targeted production capacity. Asked if the mega growth plans are too ambitious for the steel maker, he said, “I don’t think so, because demand is growing rapidly and it’s not ambitious in this sense that we have infrastructure and our existing plants can be taken into capacities of 47 million tonnes and may be only one major greenfield plant and will be close to 60 million tonnes.” Roongta is credited with turning the steel company into what it is today, a Maharatna (cash-rich) entity. “One should be aggressive in pursuit of its business interests and I do not know what way you say I am soft. I am a soft spoken person. Yes, you have to be aggressive, you have to be passionate also. Not only aggressive but I am very passionate also,” he said, replying to a query. He spearheaded the recent efforts on part of SAIL to join hands with global giant Posco for setting up steel plant in Jharkhand, besides a mill in Maharashtra, entailing an estimated investment of Rs 15,000 crore. — PTI
	Telcos pay Rs 67,719 cr to govt for 3G spectrum Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 31 Raising more than Rs 45,000 crore from loans the nine telecom operators, including the two state-run BSNL, MTNL, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and RCom, today together made the coffers of the government richer by Rs 67,719 crore as the payment towards 3G spectrum, which they got in recent auction. Having sought no extension for making the payments at the end of the 10-day period, the telcos deposited their payment on the last day of depositing the amount today. Together, the telcos also paid the rest of the over Rs 22,000 crore from their cash reserves. Last week, the telecom department, in a note to all 3G spectrum winners, said they could opt for two payment options - submit demand drafts or make online transfers to the department’s State Bank of India account in New Delhi. Bharti Airtel paid the highest Rs 12,295.46 crore for 3G spectrum (radio waves) in 13 circles, followed by Vodafone Rs 11,617.86 crore. State-owned BSNL also paid Rs 10,186.56 crore for the radio waves across India, except in Delhi and Mumbai. MTNL, which offers telecom services only in two circles of Delhi and Mumbai, paid Rs 6,564 crore for the 3G spectrum. BSNL and MTNL were given spectrum nearly a year ago on the condition that they would be paying the amount equivalent to the final bid. Anil Ambani group firm RCom deposited Rs 8,585.04 crore. The company has bagged spectrum in 13 circles, including Delhi and Mumbai. The amount paid by the telcos along with the auction of the BWA, which is currently underway would give the government an estimated Rs 90,000 crore which would help it cut down its fiscal deficit tremendously and reduce the burden of borrowing. The government is hoping to reduce its fiscal deficit to around 4.5 per cent of GDP from the estimated 5.5 per cent in the current financial year as a result of the two auctions.
	Banks in a tizzy over rise in ATM withdrawal limit Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, May 31 The decision to increase the cash withdrawal limit from ATMs to Rs 1 lakh a day by Reserve Bank of India may ease the work load on bank branches. But it has also sent the banks in a tizzy on improving the security arrangements at off-site ATMs, upgrading the ATM machines and improving logistics to ensure more feeds to ATMs. As per the direction issued by the apex regulatory bank, customers can soon withdraw up to Rs 1 lakh in a single day from ATM machines, and can shop for a higher amount of Rs 1.25 lakh, using their debit cards. RBI has also allowed an amount of Rs 3 lakh to be transferred in a day to another account through ATMs as also over phone (mobile banking). The idea behind enhancing these limits for ATM withdrawals, debit card swiping and fund transfers is to save the consumers from running to bank branches, that too within banking hours, for such large transactions. Currently, the maximum the customers of most of the banks can withdraw through ATMs is Rs 50,000 in a day. Since HDFC Bank has already announced that its customers can avail these enhanced banking limits from June 1, other banks, too, will have to follow suit soon. Most bankers are happy with the decision, however, they feel that it will put an additional financial burden on them as they will have to upgrade ATMs, increase security and enhance logistic support to feed the ATMs more frequently on any given day. Since a lot of off site ATMs still do not have security staff (though RBI has directed them to deploy security), the huge transactions now allowed will force banks to do so. There is also a fear that this move could increase the flow of black money, and make it difficult for RBI to track the black money movement. Talking to TNS, a top official in Indian Bank, said the move will benefit the customers. “But banks will have to upgrade most ATM machines as the cassettes inside the ATMs cannot hold so much cash,” he said.
	Mumbai-Delhi Industrial Corridor Maharashtra to speed up land acquisition Shiv Kumar Tribune News Service Mumbai, May 31 After various arms of the Central government, including the Industries Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission, have noted the tardy implementation of the prestigious Mumbai-Delhi Industrial Corridor in Maharashtra, the Ashok Chavan government has belatedly begun to get its act together. According to sources, the success of the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat in acquiring 12,000 hectares of land near Ahmedabad along the corridor to set up a mini-industrial city has also embarrassed the Maharashtra government. The new industrial township in Gujarat is planned to be bigger than Ahmedabad and would boast of modern infrastructural facilities. On the other hand, land acquisition along the planned corridor in Maharashtra was stuck for the past three years since the Delhi-Mumbai corridor was mooted. The Maharashtra government wants to develop four mega cities in Dhule, Nashik, Aurangabad, Sinnar and Dighi along the route. As per the norms specified by the Central government, funds would be allotted to the states depending on their progress in getting the projects moving. Last week, the Maharashtra government earmarked the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) as the planning authority for the corridor and tasked with acquiring land, obtaining environmental clearances and arranging water and power supply for the project. According to AM Khan, Principal Secretary (Industries), the Maharashtra government is planning to promote the automobile and white goods industries apart from capital goods equipment manufacture along the corridor. “Officials from the revenue department have now been moved to a special cell headed by Chief Secretary JP Dange to speed up land acquisition,” said an MIDC source. The Maharashtra leg of the project will begin at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) outside Mumbai. There will be two more ports, at Sinnar and Dighi, under the project and six airports. The ports at Sinnar and Dighi are already functional but need to be developed to handle higher container traffic. Four airfields along this route are in the process of being upgraded, say sources. The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor will pass through Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and MP and span length of 1,483 km.
	Chinese traveller cheques to be available from today Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, May 31 Starting June 1, the world’s first pre-paid travel product for the Chinese market, the American Express Chinese Yuan Traveller Cheque, is available for Indians travelling to China. The product provides a convenient, secure and readily available payment option in response to rapidly growing numbers of business travellers and holiday makers making their way to China annually. Last year, more than 4.49 lakh persons travelled from India to China for business, leisure and growth in these segments is expected to continue. According to the World Tourism Organisation, China is now tipped to become the number one travel destination in the world by 2015. In 2009, the China travel market experienced a fast but balanced growth, receiving 126 million inbound travellers who spent a total of $39.7 billion in the country. Significantly adding to the numbers of inbound tourists, the Shanghai World Expo is expected to draw another 3.5 million international visitors to China from May to October this year. “We believe there will be strong demand for the new product, particularly as China is rapidly becoming one of the most significant international leisure and business destinations in the world. The Yuan Traveller Cheque is one of the most secure, cost effective and easily exchanged payment method in the market, and is particularly attractive for tourists travelling outside major cities,” said Lakshman Pandey, director, Global Prepaid, American Express. Chinese Yuan Traveller Cheques will be available in India through Thomas Cook, FCH CentrumDirect, VKC Credit & Forex Services, Weizman Forex, TT Forex, Prithvi Softech, Paul Merchants, Cox & Kings, Medpat Finance, and Pheroze Framroze. Once in China, travellers can encash them at approximately 2,000 Bank of China branches across China up to CNY20,000 per person, per branch and per day. “The traveller cheque remains popular as part of a mixed wallet of travel money which includes some cash and credit cards - for many consumers the main attraction is its value as replacement cash, if your traveller cheques are lost or stolen, American Express will replace them,” added Lakshman.
	Per capita income rises to Rs 44,345 New Delhi, May 31 The per capita income grew by 10.5 per cent to Rs 44,345 in 2009-10 against Rs 40,141 in the year-ago period, according to the government data. The per capita income was slightly higher than Rs 43,749 as calculated by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) in its advance estimates for FY10. However, per capita income grew by 5.6 per cent last fiscal if it is calculated on the basis of 2004-05 prices, which is a better way of comparison and broadly factors inflation. Per capita income (at 2004-05 prices) stood at Rs 33,588 in FY10 against Rs 31,821 in the previous year, according to estimates of national income released today. Per capital income means income of each Indian if national income is evenly divided among the country’s population of 117 crore. The size of the economy rose to Rs 62,31,171 crore in the last fiscal, up 11.8 per cent over Rs 55,74,449 crore in FY09. — PTI